A well-meaning mother once asked me to teach her children about Jesus, ‘but leave out that stuff about the Cross’ she instructed, ‘I only what them to know the good things’.
It would be great if life was that simple!
Our life is a mixed bag, full of joys and hopes, suffering and sacrifice, pain and betrayal, death and new life. Real Christianity is about real life, and confronts all of these aspects. When the authorities closed in on Jesus, his friends did a runner, his disciples scattered and his mission fell into disarray. Instead of sinking into despair or taking the easy way out, Jesus stayed faithful to his beliefs and hoped in the promises made to God’s people. He became the X-Factor.
During the three days of the Easter Triduum from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, we walk a journey of hope acknowledging that life and everything in it can strengthen us and have meaning. The betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper and the Way of the Cross led to the crucifixion on Calvary, but that was not the end. Suffering gives way to life, pain to joy, and the sadness of separation to the realisation of life beyond this sphere. Jesus, the X-Factor in person, sustains and enlivens us.
When you bite that hot cross bun on Good Friday, or kiss the Cross, when you celebrate the resurrection and eat a chocolate egg of new life at Easter, remember the Real X-Factor!
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